Manhattan West

Along with its glassy towers on the rise and big-name corporations leasing office space, the Hudson Yards district is now displaying another show of how the mega-development is pushing the once-desolate Midtown West area forward–the announcement of a 60,000-square-foot Whole Foods. The green grocer will move into Brookfield Property’s eight-acre Manhattan West complex, located at 5 Manhattan West on the corner of 10th Avenue and West 31st Street, directly across from Related’s Hudson Yards. Echoing the sentiment of the “Whole Foods effect“–the pattern of real estate values increasing when high-end grocery stores open nearby, both due to convenience and prestige–a press release from the developer says the news “is a significant first step in creating a first-of-its-kind global retail hub at Manhattan West.”

6sqft revealed renderings at the beginning of the year of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill‘s Hudson Yards-adjacent, five million-square-foot Manhattan West project, which “will include two office towers, a rental tower with 844 apartments at 435 West 31st Street, retail space and a new landscaped public plaza designed by James Corner Field Operations, the firm responsible for the design of the High Line.” As of Tuesday, September 6th, New Yorkers earning 60 percent of the area median income can apply for 169 affordable apartments in the residential tower; they’ll range from $913/month studios to $1,359/month three-bedrooms.

Carter Uncut brings New York City’s breaking development news under the critical eye of resident architecture critic Carter B. Horsley. This week Carter brings us the third installment of “Skyline Wars,” a series that examines the explosive and unprecedented supertall phenomenon that is transforming the city’s silhouette. In this post Carter zooms in on Hudson Yards.

The Hudson Yards neighborhood in Far Midtown West is one of the country’s most active construction areas. Construction cranes dot its emerging skyline and dozens more are promised now with the district’s improved connection to the rest of the city. Last fall, the 7-line subway station at Eleventh Avenue and 34th Street opened with one-stop access to Times Square. The newly-minted station features a lengthy diagonal escalator bringing commuters to the front-door of the huge mixed-use project being created over the rail yards west of Tenth Avenue between 30th and 33rd streets. Originally, a second station was contemplated on 41st Street and Tenth Avenue but transit officials claimed it could not afford the $500 million expenditure, despite the enormous amount of new residential construction occurring along the far West 42nd Street corridor.

Nevertheless, the finished Hudson Yards station deposits straphangers into a new diagonal boulevard and park between 10th and 11th Avenues that will ultimately stretch from the Related Companies / Oxford Property Group’s Hudson Yards master plan northward to 42nd Street.

Architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has released new drawings of the Brookfield Properties-developed Manhattan West project located between 32nd and 33rd Streets and Ninth and Tenth Avenues, Dezeen reported today. The glass-clad Manhattan West towers–punctuated by green public space–will be rising next to the Hudson Yards development.

The five-million-square-foot project will include two office towers, a rental tower with 844 apartments at 435 West 31st Street, retail space and a new landscaped public plaza designed by James Corner Field Operations, the firm responsible for the design of the High Line.